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Edward Teller was one of the leading scientists of the 20th century and has been described as 'the father of the hydrogen bomb'. His memoirs run to 600 pages of small type (in paperback), covering most of the 20th century - from his birth in 1908 to the year 2000 which, although a mere 60 pages a decade, makes the book a fairly formidable tome. Most of his memoirs are very readable (from a layman's point of view) but I found myself getting a little bogged down towards the end, from about 1970 - which in fairness is only the last 100 pages or so. The first half of the book was the strongest for me - describing his childhood in Hungary and education in Germany during the rise of anti-Semitism, and the period leading up to the end of WWII, and the dropping of the hydrogen bombs on Japan - about which he expresses very frank, and perhaps surprising, opinions.

Overall, an interesting memoir from an interesting and controversial man. As always, you don't have to take my opinion for it - you can browse the foreword and a substantial excerpt from the 2nd chapter by clicking on the 'excerpt' link above.

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